Psychopathy and autonomic responsivity: A note on the importance of diagnosis.

Claims that criticism by R. D. Hare (see record 1972-29421-001) of the authors' findings of autonomic responsivity to epinephrine in psychopaths arises from misunderstanding of their program and lack of concern with the biology of psychopathy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Concerning instrumental autonomic conditioning: A rejoinder.

A. Crider, G. Schwartz, and S. Shnidman's (see 43:8) reply to E. S. Katkin and E. N. Murray's (see 42:10) review of instrumental autonomic conditioning makes several valid points but also contains many differences in interpretation based on a contrasting theoretical position. It is contended herein that the acceptability of "facts" as "facts" and "evidence" as "evidence" is determined often by predisposing epistemological orientations. Many of Crider et al.'s points are well taken, but the evidence on instrumental autonomic conditioning in humans remains far less convincing than the evidence available from animal studies. The methodological questions raised by Katkin and Murray's earlier paper appear to be clarified substantially by some of Crider et al.'s comments; however, the clarification has not reduced the danger of artifacts being interpreted as substantive evidence. (30 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Operant autonomic conditioning and rod-and-frame test performance

Forty subjects were administered the portable rod-and-frame test (RFT) before and after operant autonomic conditioning training or control experiences. Ten subjects were assigned to each of four groups: a heart rate conditioning group; a false heart rate feedback group; a galvanic skin-response conditioning group; and a control group. Half of the subjects in the three experimental groups were informed of the response-reinforcement contingencies, and half were not informed. Informed subjects in the conditioning groups exhibited significantly lower portable RFT scores after conditioning. The results suggest that awareness of and control over autonomic functioning may be an important determinant of RFT performance.     

Psychopathy and punishment.

An experiment to test the hypothesis that psychopathy is associated with deficient passive avoidance learning under punishment. 75 High Pd and 75 Low Pd female undergraduates, equated for intelligence, learned a list of 10 nonsense syllables under 1 of 3 conditions of reinforcement: verbal reward, verbal punishment, and absence of comment by E. Punishment significantly retarded the learning of Low Pd Ss, but not that of High Pd Ss. No significant differences occurred under reward or neutral conditions. The hypothesis was considered confirmed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychopathy and lateral preference.

Administered a self-report questionnaire to measure lateral preferences (hand, foot, eye, and ear) in 258 male prison inmates (mean age 29.8 yrs) divided into high, medium, and low psychopathy groups on the basis of a 22-item psychopathy checklist. As a group, Ss displayed much the same pattern of lateral preferences as did a normative group of 1,211 male noncriminals described by C. Porac and S. Coren (1981), with the exception that criminals were more likely to be right-side dominant than were noncriminals. The inmate groups did not differ from one another on any of the lateral preference measures, although there was a tendency for the incidence of consistent left-handedness to be higher in the medium than in the high or low psychopathy groups. Lateral preferences were unrelated to type or severity of criminal history or aggressive and violent behavior. Results conflict with models that attempt to use evidence of sinistrality as a basis for global inferences about cerebral dominance and dysfunction in delinquency, criminality, and psychopathy. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychopathy and violent crime.

Examined the relations between psychopathy, violence, and impulsiveness of criminal behavior within a White prisoner sample of 76 Ss, using level of intelligence as a moderator variable. Prisoners were given the MMPI, the California Psychological Inventory, the Wide Range Achievement Test, and the IPAT Culture Free Intelligence Test (Scale 2). Unlike most prior research, psychopathy was found to be predictive of violence but only for less intelligent criminals; about 90% of this group had committed a violent crime compared to 58% for the remainder of the sample. Similarly, the psychopaths with limited intelligence evidenced the greatest impulsivity in the commission of their crimes relative to bright psychopaths or nonpsychopathic criminals at either level of intelligence. The implications of the findings for the importance of moderating cognitive variables in personality predictions are discussed. (45 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

CS and UCS intervals and orders in human autonomic classical differential trace conditioning.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 25(3) of Canadian Journal of Psychology Revue Canadienne de Psychologie (see record 2007-04520-001). In diagram appearing in this erratum should be substituted for the diagram appearing as Figure 2 on p. 423 of the article.] Measured the GSR and digital volume-pulse change in 4 groups of 80 Ss each with light and tone as CS and shock as UCS. For Groups I and II, the CS-UCS interval was .75 and 7.5 sec., respectively; for Groups III and IV, the UCS-CS interval was .75 and 7.5 sec., respectively. Group III showed "backward" differential conditioning in the GSR; Group II yielded reliable conditioning of "multiple responses" occurring before UCS onset; the magnitude and extent of conditioning was greater in Group I than in Groups II and III, which did not differ; some evidence for "reverse" conditioning was suggested in Group IV, with slightly greater responding to the CS not paired with the UCS; instructions which distracted 1/2 the Ss from the CS did not affect responding to those stimuli. (French summary) (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Classical conditioning of autonomic fear responses is independent of contingency awareness.

The role of contingency awareness in classical conditioning experiments using human subjects is currently under debate. This study took a novel approach to manipulating contingency awareness in a differential Pavlovian conditioning paradigm. Complex sine wave gratings were used as visual conditional stimuli (CS). By manipulating the fundamental spatial frequency of the displays, we were able to construct pairs of stimuli that varied in discriminability. One group of subjects was given an “easy” discrimination, and another was exposed to a “difficult” CS+ and CS–. A 3rd group was exposed to a stimulus that was paired with the unconditional stimulus (UCS) 50% of the time and served as a control. Skin conductance response (SCR) and continuous UCS expectancy data were measured concurrently throughout the experiment. Differential UCS expectancy was found only in the easy discrimination group. Differential SCRs were found in the easy discrimination group as well as in the difficult discrimination group, but not in the 50% contingency control. The difficult discrimination group did not exhibit differential UCS expectancy but did show clear differential SCR. These observations support a dual process interpretation of classical conditioning whereby conditioning on an implicit level can occur without explicit knowledge about the contingencies. The role of contingency awareness in classical conditioning experiments using human subjects is currently under debate. This study took a novel approach to manipulating contingency awareness in a differential Pavlovian conditioning paradigm. Complex sine wave gratings were used as visual conditional stimuli (CS). By manipulating the fundamental spatial frequency of the displays, we were able to construct pairs of stimuli that varied in discriminability. One group of subjects was given an “easy” discrimination, and another was exposed to a “difficult” CS+ and CS–. A 3rd group was exposed to a stimulus that was paired with the unconditional stimulus (UCS) 50% of the time and served as a control. Skin conductance response (SCR) and continuous UCS expectancy data were measured concurrently throughout the experiment. Differential UCS expectancy was found only in the easy discrimination group. Differential SCRs were found in the easy discrimination group as well as in the difficult discrimination group, but not in the 50% contingency control. The difficult discrimination group did not exhibit differential UCS expectancy but did show clear differential SCR. These observations support a dual process interpretation of classical conditioning whereby conditioning on an implicit level can occur without explicit knowledge about the contingencies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the criteria for instrumental autonomic conditioning: A reply to Katkin and Murray.

In their recent review of instrumental conditioning of autonomic functions, E. S. Katkin and E. N. Murray (see 42: criticized most of the existing studies on the human level as artifactual on 1 or more grounds. The criteria they employed for rejecting these demonstrations are themselves open to criticism, however. Specifically, it is argued that (1) peripheral or cognitive mediation hypotheses are unlikely alternative explanations of the obtained results; (2) an increase in response frequency over a preconditioning operant level is not a necessary condition for demonstrating an increase in response probability with contingent reinforcement; and (3) yoked-control designs, frequently used in this research, do not automatically invalidate experiments in which they are employed. It is concluded that the strongest hypothesis to account for the existing data remains the direct instrumental strengthening of autonomic activity. (35 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychopathy and laterality of cerebral function.

Used a tachistoscopic recognition task to test the hypothesis that psychopathy is associated with dysfunction of the dominant hemisphere. 55 prison inmates were divided into groups with high, medium, and low ratings of psychopathy. Ss were required to identify 3-letter words presented in a vertical arrangement either in the left visual half field (LVF) or the right visual half field (RVF) 1.5° from a central fixation point. Each of 24 words was presented twice, once in each visual half field, at an exposure time of 80 msec. The exposure time was then shortened to 40 msec, and a 2nd set of 24 words was presented twice, once in each visual half field. In general, words presented in the RVF were more readily identified than those presented in the LVF. There was no evidence that psychopathy was associated with any deficit in RVF performance even when handedness and writing position were taken into account. Further, based on responses to a laterality questionnaire, there were no group differences in "left-sidedness." Results do not support the hypothesis of dominant hemisphere dysfunction in psychopathy. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychopathy and conduct problems in children.

Factor analysis of a measure of psychopathy was conducted in a sample of 95 clinic-referred children between the ages of 6 and 13 yrs. These analyses revealed 2 dimensions of behavior, one associated with impulsivity and conduct problems (I/CP) and one associated with the interpersonal and motivational aspects of psychopathy (callous/unemotional: CU). In a subset of this sample (n?=?64), analyses indicated that scores on the I/CP factor were highly associated with traditional measures of conduct problems. In contrast, scores derived from the CU factor were only moderately associated with measures of conduct problems and exhibited a different pattern of associations on several criteria that have been associated with psychopathy (e.g., sensation seeking) or childhood antisocial behavior (e.g., low intelligence, poor school achievement, and anxiety). These analyses suggest that psychopathic personality features and conduct problems are independent, yet interacting, constructs in children, analogous to findings in the adult literature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychopathy and alexithymia in female offenders.

Determined the comorbidity of psychopathy and alexithymia in 37 female inmates of a medium-security prison. The authors also investigated the association between psychopathy and alexithymia with the use of affective language in response to questions about an emotional event, and with their propensity for violence. The extent of psychopathy and alexithymia were assessed with the Hare Psychopathy Checklist—Revised (PCL-R) and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS), respectively. Using standard cutoff scores, 30% were identified as psychopaths, and 32% as alexithymics. Three Ss were both psychopaths and alexithymics. The correlation between PCL-R and TAS total scores was not significant, but the socially deviant impulsive factor of the PCL-R significantly correlated with the TAS items that reflect inability to discriminate feelings and bodily sensations. Alexithymia, but not psychopathy, was negatively related to measures of affective speech content. Both psychopathy and alexithymia were associated with a history of violence. In spite of several manifest similarities, psychopathy and alexithymia appear to be different clinical constructs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychopathy and physiological responses to adrenalin.

Made physiological recordings while 16 psychopaths (P), 16 nonpsychopaths (NP), and 16 "mixed" (M) Ss received a saline injection, followed 15 min. later by an adrenalin injection. Tonic skin conductance of Group NP was generally greater than that of Groups M and P, a difference that increased throughout the course of the experiment. There were no significant group differences in tonic heart rate (HR), respiration rate, blink rate, or electromyogram (EMG) activity. Both saline and adrenalin injections produced sharp increases in skin conductance, blink rate, digital vasoconstriction, and EMG activity, but these changes were more persistent with adrenalin. Adrenalin also produced large and prolonged increases in HR, while saline had virtually no effect. There were no significant differences between groups in responsivity except in electrodermal activity the increases in skin conductance following saline and adrenalin were smaller in Group P than in Group NP. Physiological responses given by each group were unrelated to scores on the Activity Preference Questionnaire. Results do not support earlier claims that psychopaths show extreme cardiac lability in response to adrenalin, but are consistent with the view that psychopaths are electrodermally hypoactive. (25 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychopathy in instrumental and reactive violent offenders.

Can violent offenders who commit acts of instrumental aggression for goal-oriented purposes such as robbery be distinguished from those who commit acts of reactive (or hostile) aggression in response to provocation? Because violent offenders often have a history of both instrumental and reactive aggression, this study distinguished between offenders with a history of at least 1 instrumental violent offense and offenders with a history of reactive violent offenses. Two studies tested the hypothesis that instrumental offenders would score higher than reactive offenders and nonviolent offenders on R. D. Hare's (1991) Psychopathy Checklist. The first study sample consisted of 106 violent and nonviolent offenders recruited from a medium-security correctional facility. The second study sample consisted of 50 violent offenders referred for pretrial forensic evaluation. In both samples, instrumental offenders could be reliably distinguished from reactive offenders on the basis of violent crime behavior and level of psychopathy. Group differences could not be attributed to participant age, race, length of incarceration, or extent of prior criminal record. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychopathy and suicide: A multisample investigation.

Evidence suggests that behavioral aspects of psychopathy are associated with suicidal behavior, whereas the affective and interpersonal aspects are not. The authors tested the robustness of this bifurcated association across 1,711 persons and 12 samples of adult and juvenile criminal offenders, forensic psychiatric patients, and civil psychiatric patients. The authors observed a small but significant partial correlation (.13) between the behavioral/impulsive lifestyle features of psychopathy and suicidality, but no effect for affective/interpersonal features. Several method and sample features (mental disorder; psychopathy and suicidality measurement format) significantly strengthened or weakened this association. The authors conclude that it is not possible to speak of "the" association between psychopathy and suicide, but that this relationship appears to be partially dependent on methodological (i.e., self-report vs. clinician-administered psychopathy measures) and sample composition (i.e., age; mental illness) factors. Recommendations for practice are provided, including that clinicians should not consider psychopathy a buffer against suicidal behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Vicarious instigation and conditioning of facial expressive and autonomic responses to a model's expressive display of pain.

In 2 experiments, 35 undergraduates participated in the application of a long-interstimulus-interval differential conditioning paradigm with a confederate's videotaped expression of pain serving as the UCS. Facial EMG signals and skin conductance were recorded. Clear evidence of vicarious autonomic instigation and some evidence of facial excitation were obtained in Exp I, but vicarious autonomic and facial muscle conditioning were obtained only for the 50% of the Ss who were aware of the contingency between the CS+ and the model's pain. In Exp II, steps were taken to increase awareness of the contingency, and significant autonomic and facial muscle instigation and conditioning occurred. Both the vicariously instigated and conditioned autonomic responses involved skin conductance increases, but facial responses to the model's pain were different from conditioned facial responses. Autonomic and facial muscle data suggest that Ss were behaving as though they were anticipating shock when the CS+ was displayed to the model, and as though they were in pain when the model was being shocked. Vicariously aroused emotional reactions thus appear to be similar to those that would be elicited if the S were directly anticipating and receiving shock. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Selective autonomic blockades: Effects upon classical conditioning of heart rate and lever-lift suppression in rabbits.

Studied heart rate, blood pressure, and lever lifting during differential classical conditioning in 2 experiments with a total of 8 female Belgian hares. The unconditioned stimulus was electrical stimulation of the septal region or the hypothalamus through chronically implanted electrodes; the conditioned stimuli were 2 tones differing in frequency. Beta-adrenergic blockade by propranolol did not affect cardiovascular unconditioned responses (bradycardia and pressor UCRs), conditioned responses (bradycardia CRs), or lever-lift responses. Cholinergic blockade by atropine methylnitrate abolished heart-rate responses but not lever-lift responses. Findings suggest that heart-rate responses were mediated by increases in vagal tone. Alpha-adrenergic blockade by phentolamine abolished bradycardia and pressor UCRs, but not bradycardia CRs. It is also suggested that separate central mechanisms mediated bradycardia UCRs and CRs. Removal of the lever diminished without eliminating bradycardia CRs, indicating partial independence between lever-lift and cardiac CRs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"CS and UCS intervals and orders in human autonomic classical differential trace conditioning": Erratum.

Reports an error in "CS and UCS intervals and orders in human autonomic classical differential trace conditioning" by John J. Furedy (Canadian Journal of Psychology Revue Canadienne de Psychologie, 1970[Dec], Vol 24[6], 417-426). The diagram appearing in this erratum should be substituted for the diagram appearing as Figure 2 on p. 423 of the article. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1971-24206-001.) Measured the GSR and digital volume-pulse change in 4 groups of 80 Ss each with light and tone as CS and shock as UCS. For Groups I and II, the CS-UCS interval was .75 and 7.5 sec., respectively; for Groups III and IV, the UCS-CS interval was .75 and 7.5 sec., respectively. Group III showed 'backward' differential conditioning in the GSR; Group II yielded reliable conditioning of 'multiple responses' occurring before UCS onset; the magnitude and extent of conditioning was greater in Group I than in Groups II and III, which did not differ; some evidence for 'reverse' conditioning was suggested in Group IV, with slightly greater responding to the CS not paired with the UCS; instructions which distracted 1/2 the Ss from the CS did not affect responding to those stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factor structure of the Psychopathy Checklist.

The Psychopathy Checklist (PCL) is a reliable and valid instrument for the assessment of psychopathy in criminal populations. Although it was designed to measure a unitary construct, the instrument has been shown to comprise several factors. To determine whether the PCL contains a factor structure that is stable and replicable, we factor-analyzed data from six samples of male prison inmates (N?=?1,119) in Canada, the United States, and England. Split-half cross-validation and analysis of congruence coefficients indicated that a two-factor solution could be replicated in all six samples. Factor 1 was defined by core personality traits, including superficiality; habitual lying and manipulation; callousness; and lack of affect, guilt, remorse, and empathy. Factor 2 was defined by a chronically unstable and antisocial lifestyle. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)